Desperate parents issue plea over autistic adults

Families claim cuts have left them struggling to cope on their own

Autistic adults are “not being treated like human beings” in a “disgraceful” system lacking support, parents have claimed.

Families in Fife and Dundee say years of cuts have left them dealing alone with often challenging and aggressive behaviour, without help from social services.

One family told The Courier their lives were left in a state of daily chaos after waiting almost three weeks for emergency respite.

The situation became so bad the mother was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Another parent, who lives in Tayport in Fife, said she feels the system is completely broken and worries there is no safety net for her and her 21-year-old autistic son.

She said: “No one will do anything unless things are at crisis point. I feel like I would have to drop dead or for my son to be seriously harmed for anyone to care.

“Over the years support from Fife social workers has shrunk to nonexistent due to a cut in funding, I believe.

“In the past social workers had been able to point to some third party organisations who were sometimes able to help in one way or another which have also shrunk considerably.”

Many say services dry up when youngsters turn 18, causing symptoms to flare up from a lack of focus or routine.

When parents struggle to control aggressive and challenging behaviour, they are left “suffocated and alone”, according to one Dundee mother with a 21-year-old autistic son.

She said: “I ended up in the Murray Royal (Perth psychiatric hospital) for four nights because the council just wouldn’t help.

“My son was lashing out. It was like he was possessed by a demon, I’d never seen him like that. The police and an ambulance had to come to the house. It was horrendous.

“It took 19 days before he was finally taken to stay somewhere so I could get emergency respite. That is disgraceful.

“They said he could be taken to Carseview (mental health unit at Ninewells Hospital) but he has the mind of a child, he wouldn’t cope somewhere like that.”

Another Dundee woman said her son, also 21, has not had a social worker assigned for the last seven months.”

A Dundee mum ended up in Murray Royal psychiatric hospital after she claims she was left without any support.